Penn State sends 3 into finals of 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Here’s what to know

After having a perfect Day 1 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Penn State fans may have thought the sky was the limit.

Despite becoming just the second team in NCAA history to have 10 All-Americans, they also ended up with just three finalists Friday — despite advancing seven to the semifinals.

Minnesota was the first team to reach double-digit All-Americans in 2001. The Golden Gophers won the team race then, but didn’t have any finalists.

On Friday, Penn State was a combined 16-7, giving it an overall tournament record of 36-7. It was 3-4 in the semifinals, which is a round that the Nittany Lions typically dominate in.

PSU amassed 135.5 team points by Friday, which still gives it a 31-point lead over runner-up Nebraska. Penn State would need to score 37.5 points on Saturday to set a new team scoring mark, which it set last year with 172.5 points.

Here’s a look at how each Penn State wrestler did:

125 pounds: Luke Lilledahl

Record for tournament: 4-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: Lilledahl’s day didn’t start off well.

He took on Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour, whom Lilledahl edged earlier this year with a last-second takedown. On Friday afternoon, Seymour got some revenge in a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker win.

The pair traded escapes in regulation. In sudden victory, it looked as if Lilledahl was going to get a winning score, but Seymour fought it off.

They went to rideouts with Seymour getting out quickly in the first period. In the second rideout period, Lilledahl got a stall point from Seymour, but the Mountain Hawks wrestler built up enough riding time for an additional point.

The true freshman didn’t stay down for long after the loss as he breezed past Wisconsin’s Nicolar Rivera, 7-3, to become an All-American.

Lilledahl then stayed on the winning train by shutting out Northern Colorado’s Stevo Poulin, 3-0.

133 pounds: Braeden Davis

Record for tournament: 4-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: After watching Lilledahl get upset, Davis had the opportunity to try and make up for it by taking on No. 1 Lucas Byrd of Illinois.

Byrd had other plans, though, scoring at will on Davis to the tune of a 12-1 major decision, sending the Penn State wrestler into the consolation bracket.

Once in the consolation bracket, the Nittany Lion edged Iowa State’s Evan Frost, 4-2, for his first career spot on the podium.

In his consolation quarterfinals bout, Davis used a third-period takedown to best Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee, 4-2.

141 pounds: Beau Bartlett

Record for tournament: 3-1

Current round: Consolation semifinals

Recap: Bartlett is competing in his final NCAA championships, so he wanted to make a good final impression.

Unfortunately for Bartlett, his trip got derailed by a familiar foe in Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez. Friday night’s semifinals matchup was the eighth time the duo have squared off.

Earlier this year, Bartlett beat Mendez twice — in the dual and then the Big Ten consolation finals. On Friday, the two traded escapes in regulation, and no one scored in sudden victory.

The rideout periods saw Mendez escape with two seconds left in the first period. In the second period, Mendez rode Bartlett out for the entire period to earn a 2-1 victory.

The Penn State wrestler started his day out well with a shutout of Penn’s CJ Composto, 5-0, to make the semifinals.

149 pounds: Shayne Van Ness

Record for tournament: 3-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: Van Ness knew he was going to have his hands full with his semifinals opponent in Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett.

Earlier this year, Lovett hung a major decision on the Penn State wrestler and, on Friday night, it was more of the same. Van Ness fell 14-8.

The Cornhuskers wrestler raced out to a 10-point lead thanks to a takedown and two sets of nearfall points in the first period. Van Ness attempted to mount a comeback in the second period with a pair of takedowns, but he trailed 13-6 after two.

The third period saw Lovett stall his way at the end, giving Van Ness points, but the deficit was too much for the Nittany Lion in the 14-8 loss.

Van Ness made the semifinals with a solid 7-2 victory earlier Friday over North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil.

157 pounds: Tyler Kasak

Record for tournament: 4-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: Things appeared to be set up nicely for the No. 1 seed to make a run to the finals. He just had to get past his quarterfinals match Friday afternoon.

Apparently, that was easier said than done.

Purdue’s Joey Blaze, who was Kasak’s opponent in the quarterfinals, didn’t let the Nittany Lions wrestler get to the semifinals with a 5-4 decision.

Kasak controlled the match from the get-go and led 4-2 with just over one minute left. He then got into a scramble with Blaze, who came out on top for the winning score.

The Penn State wrestler then dropped into the consolation bracket and secured himself a podium finish by topping Bellefonte graduate and Penn wrestler Jude Swisher, 5-4.

After topping Swisher, Kasak threw a nasty headlock on Oklahoma State’s Caleb Fish and pinned him in 4:19.

165 pounds: Mitchell Mesenbrink

Record for tournament: 4-0

Current round: Finals

Recap: Mesenbrink was the Nittany Lions third’ semifinalist to wrestle on Friday night, but he was the first to secure his finals spot.

He took on Nebraska’s Chris Minto and forced a stall call just 10 seconds into the bout. Mesenbrink then went on the attack from there in a 13-2 major decision.

The Penn State wrestler snapped off a first-period takedown, and got a stall point to hold a 4-0 lead. Mesenbrink opened the second period with an escape and tacked on another takedown to double his lead.

In the third period, Mesenbrink got another stall point, another takedown and a riding time point for the final score. He faces Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo for the title on Saturday night.

Earlier on Friday, Mesenbrink made the semifinals by shutting out Oklahoma State’s Cameron Amine 5-0.

“I was just going to speak to how great the people are in our room, our coaches, and the men and women surrounding our program. It doesn’t matter who is in front of us, it’s constantly getting better,” Mesenbrink said after the win. “You want to do well. You want your efforts to add up to something, to mean something. I’m excited, and every opportunity is awesome. So far in my whole life, this is the stuff I’ve lived for.”

174 pounds: Levi Haines

Record for tournament: 3-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: Haines had a tough time in his semifinals bout with Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti.

Hamiti’s stature is very long and lanky, which made getting takedowns on him difficult for the smaller and more compact Haines. The Penn State wrestler was deep on several shot attempts, but just couldn’t finish them off in a 4-2 loss.

The Cowboys wrestler had Haines on his toes early as he fired off a takedown right out of the gate for an early lead. The Nittany Lion escaped before the period’s end.

The pair then traded escapes to set up the final score.

Friday afternoon saw Haines reach the semifinals with a 7-2 win over Navy’s Danny Wask.

184 pounds: Carter Starocci

Record for tournament: 4-0

Current round: Finals

Recap: All year long, the question has been the same: Can Starocci claim his fifth NCAA title? He’s now one victory away from accomplishing the unprecedented feat.

Starocci had no problems in either of his matches on Friday.

He began the day by dominating Maryland’s Jaxon Smith in a 9-1 major decision. In the semifinals, the four-time champ picked apart Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott in a 9-3 victory.

Starocci takes on Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in the finals, which is a matchup college wrestling fans wanted to see again after their NWCA All-Star Classic match back in November. It’ll also be a matchup of current NCAA champions as Starocci holds the 174 crown and Keckeisen is the defending 184-pound champ.

“He’s obviously a tough kid,” Starocci said, referring to Keckeisen. “But, to be a national champ, it takes a lot more than toughness. So we will find out (Saturday) night.”

197 pounds: Josh Barr

Record for tournament: 4-0

Current round: Finals

Recap: It’s safe to say that Barr has been able to put all the speculation to rest about the potential injury he suffered coming into the NCAA championships.

After making his debut on Thursday, the redshirt sophomore looked focused and ready to make more noise in his first national tournament. He opened the day by dominating Lehigh’s Michael Beard to the tune of a 14-3 major decision.

It was the same result Barr had on the Mountain Hawks wrestler back in December.

In the semifinals, the Nittany Lion faced off with the No. 1 seed in Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas, who beat Barr two weeks ago in the Big Ten championships.

The Penn State wrestler fired off an early first-period takedown, which proved to be what he needed in a 5-3 win. He’ll make his finals debut against another familiar foe in Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan, who beat Barr in a January dual.

“It means a lot, but our coaches at Penn State train us well to be present in every moment. At the end of the day, all the moments are the same, and we’re just playing a game,” Barr said. “(I’m) grateful that God has blessed me with the talents I got, so (I’m) grateful in the moment. (Saturday) will come when it comes, and right now I’m just here.”

285 pounds: Greg Kerkvliet

Record for tournament: 3-1

Current round: Consolation Semifinals

Recap: Kerkvliet was the defending champion of this weight class, but he won’t be able to defend it any longer.

He came into the NCAA championships with a brace on his left leg, which was something he didn’t sport during the Big Ten championships two weeks ago. It seems that whatever the injury is, it’s limiting his performance on the mat.

After making the semifinals by shutting out Michigan’s Joshua Heindselman, 5-0, Kerkvliet faced off with Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson. The Cowboys wrestler fired off an early takedown that the Nittany Lion struggled to escape from for a bit in an 8-2 PSU loss.

Kerkvliet did escape before the first period ended, and added another escape in the second period to trail 3-2 going into the final frame. Hendrickson was more agile, tallied a takedown, and added riding time for the winning points.

NCAA Championships

Friday at Philadelphia

Team key: Appalachian State (APP), Arizona State (ASU), Army West Point (A), Bellarmine (BM), Binghamton (BG), Brown (B), Bucknell (BN), Cal State Bakersfield (CSB), Cal Poly (CP), Cal Baptist (CB), Campbell (C), Central Michigan (CM), Chattanooga (CT), Cleveland State (CS), Columbia (CL), Cornell (CN), Drexel (DX), Duke (D), Edinboro (E), Gardner-Webb (GW), George Mason (GM), Harvard (H), Hofstra (HF), Illinois (ILL), Indiana (IN), Iowa (I), Iowa State (ISU), Lehigh (L), Little Rock (LR), Lock Haven (LH), Maryland (MD), Michigan (M), Michigan State (MSU), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MS), Morgan State (MST), Navy (NY), Nebraska (N), North Carolina (NC), North Carolina State (NCS), North Dakota State (ND), Northern Colorado (NCO), Northern Illinois (NIU), Northern Iowa (NI), Northwestern (NW), Ohio (O), Ohio State (OSU), Oklahoma (OK), Oklahoma State (OKS), Oregon State (ORS), Penn State (PSU), Penn (PN), Pittsburgh (PITT), Princeton (PT), Purdue (P), Rider (RD), Rutgers (R), South Dakota State (SD), Stanford (S), The Citadel (TC), Utah Valley (U), Virginia (V), Virginia Tech (VT), West Virginia (WVU), Wisconsin (W), Wyoming (WY)

Team scores: 1. Penn State 135.5, 2. Nebraska 101.5, 3. Oklahoma State 91, 4. Iowa 73.5, 5. Minnesota 47, 6. Cornell 46, 7. Northern Iowa 44.5, 8. Ohio State 44, 9. Illinois 40.5, 10. Virginia Tech 40

Semifinals

141: Jesse Mendez, OSU, dec. Beau Bartlett, PSU, 2-1 (UTB2); 149: Ridge Lovett, N, dec. Shayne Van Ness, PSU, 14-8; 165: Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, major dec. Chris Minto, N, 13-2; 174: Dean Hamiti, OKS, dec. Levi Haines, PSU, 4-2; 184: Carter Starocci, PSU, dec. Dustin Plott, OKS, 9-3; 197: Josh Barr, PSU, dec. Jacob Cardenas, M, 5-3; 285: Wyatt Hendrickson, OKS, dec. Greg Kerkvliet, PSU, 8-2

Consolation Quarterfinals

125: Luke Lilledahl, PSU, dec. Stevo Poulin, NCO, 3-0; 133: Braeden Davis, PSU, dec. Jacob Van Dee, N, 4-2; 157: Tyler Kasak, PSU, pinned Caleb Fish, OKS, 4:19

Consolation Fourth Round

125: Lilledahl, PSU, dec. Nicolar Rivera, W, 7-3; 133: Davis, PSU, dec. Evan Frost, ISU, 4-2; 157: Kasak, PSU, dec. Jude Swisher, PN, 5-4

Consolation Third Round

157: Swisher, PN, dec. Ryder Downey, NI, 4-2

Consolation Second Round

157: Swisher, PN, tech. fall James Harrington, H, 19-4 (5:08); 184: Gabe Arnold, I, dec. Malachi DuVall, GM, 8-4

Quarterfinals

125: Sheldon Seymour, L, dec. Lilledahl, PSU, 3-2 (UTB 2); 133: Lucas Byrd, PSU, major dec. Davis, PSU, 12-1; 141: Bartlett, PSU, dec. CJ Composto, PN, 5-0; 149: Van Ness, PSU, dec. Lachlan McNeil, NC, 7-2; 157: Joey Blaze, P, dec. Kasak, PSU, 5-4; 165: Mesenbrink, PSU, dec. Cameron Amine, OKS, 5-0; 174: Haines, PSU, dec. Danny Wask, NY, 7-2; 184: Starocci, PSU, major dec. Jaxon Smith, MD, 9-1; 197: Barr, PSU, major dec. Michael Beard, L, 14-3; 285: Kerkvliet, PSU, dec. Joshua Heindselman, M, 5-0

This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 5:10 AM.

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

814-231-4609

Nate Cobler is a part-time reporter covering all things wrestling, either Penn State or Centre County’s high schools, for the Centre Daily Times. He’ll also cover other sports too. When he isn’t writing about sports, he is working for a local mortgage broker, Providence Mortgage Group.